Media Review - By Howard Johnson

So this was it huh? This is what we waited three years for? This was the act which Phonogram had billed as 'simply the world's greatest rock band'? This was the all-conquering return? Well, I'm sorry to be a party pooper, but Def Leppard were absolutely, thoroughly average.

Now there's no denying the power and prowess of 'Pyromania', there's no denying the band's extraordinary stateside success, there's no denying that Def Leppard have made a hell of a lot of dough out of this business (which at the end of the day is what it's all about!). What I am questioning is whether Def Leppard are actually a band that is worth seeing live. On the evidence of Donington, hardly the best place to make a judgement, the answer would have to be no.

Take away the horrendous sound problems, take away the obvious problems of Rick Allen having to play with one arm (a helluva brave guy!), and you're still left with the fact that Def Leppard are really rather ordinary these days.

The Leps have got a problem. The superlative Mutt Lange production on 'Pyromania' necessarily results in those songs sounding lame in comparison when viewed live and naked. Even the classic 'Photograph' sounded as if it were limping rather than sprinting majestically.

Problematical to be sure, but not as worrying as the two new songs bestowed upon us. 'Don't give me Love and Affection' and 'Run Riot'. Well it says it all, doesn't it? Standard rock songs that would've been nothing special if they'd been written in a week, never mind three years! You can fool all of the people, etc etc.

Leppard tried hard to win the punters over. They worked diligently at their craft and tried to please, but it wasn't enough. Filling out 'Rock Of Ages' with snippets of old classics such as 'Radar Love', 'Not Fade Away' and 'My Generation' seemed to be less good time and more desperation, not the stuff that the 'world's greatest rock band' should be made of.

By Howard Johnson @ Kerrang! Issue 128 1986.

Media Review - By Sounds

"Sheffield's finest steely pop metal combo approached their appearance at Donington, their first in this country since the birth of Christ, with a need to show the bastards ...And as if this question mark over their continuing prowness were not enough, Def Leppard are greeted by many of those here, not with the warm affection ... but with chilly resentment ... Add to these circumstances the fact that drummer Rick Allen tragically lost his left arm ... understandably if unhappily, much of the interest in the band would revolve around the way in which they and he coped with this sad accident, and it can be seen that Leppard ... had a lot to prove to this audience.... but the band gave it their all, Rick electing to play solo with the aid of a computerized kit. The sound was pristine, at least to begin with, and clean cut razor-edged hooks which line their classy and almost sophisticated metal took the place by storm. 'Rock! Rock! (Til You Drop)' was the motto for the day, and with this genuine rock beauty of songs like 'Photograph' and 'Another Hit and Run', Def Leppard won through despite the obvious antagonism of some of the vast crowd."

By Sounds 1986.

Media Review - By Record Mirror

"One-armed drummer Rick Allen was the star of their show, coping unbelievably well with his electronically aided drum kit."

"The band glided through an almost pleasant set of rock tunes and energetically flung themselves across the stage. A dodgy sound system didn't help but 'Rock of Ages', which included covers of 'My Generation' 'Whole Lotta Love', got the dandruff flying."

By Record Mirror 1986.

Media Review - By Music Week

"Def Leppard came across heavier than anticipated and this was greatly appreciated. Also to everyone's surprise Rick Allen was the only drummer bravely choosing Donington to return to his full role of drummer in the band."

By Music Week 1986.

Media Review - By Melody Maker

"Americanized monotony merchants."

By Melody Maker 1986.

Media Review - From Animal Instinct

Leppard didn't bother with a formal introduction. As Steve Clark explains, "We were playing in broad daylight. We didn't have any big lights or effects. We hadn't dressed up for it either. We just went out there and rock and rolled for each other. If anybody else liked it, great."

Joe went into his familiar repertoire of Mick Jagger-Gary Glitter poses while Phil and Steve turned on the guitar-heat Aerosmith style, jagged zig-zag riffs punctuated by fireball burst of feedback. At one point in the set, Steve slipped around the back line of ampifiers, snuck up behind Phil and gave him a wicked kick in the caboose.

The crowd's response was better than Leppard had ever expected. During the encore, while Rick was taking a brief drum break, Phil suggested to Joe that he give Rick a special introduction, something he hadn't done on any of the Irish shows. "So I went out after he was done and said 'Ladies and Gentlemen, Rick Allen on the drums.' You could have knocked me over with a feather. The cheering was so loud they practically blew us off stage. I mean, they were louder than we were. I could barely hear Rick because of the big waves of 'YEAH' which rolled over the stage.".

It was an especially poignant victory for Rick. Before the tour, Ozzy Osbourne had told Peter Mensch that putting Rick on display for fifty thousand headbangers amounted to nothing more than a freak show. At the end of the Monsters of Rock tour, Ozzy paid a visit to Rick's hotel room and took back every word he said.

By Zomba Books 1987.

Media Review - By Rock Brigade

"Yes MTV didn't lie. We actually played 10 shows during the month of August. Pretty amazing stuff. I'll fill you in on what happened from start to finish: Every summer in europe during the last two weeks of august, various countries have large outdoor festivals. Sometimes, it is a huge group performing like Springsteen in '85, Wham and Queen in 1986. Queen, by the way, are simply enormous in Europe (they played in front of 230,000 fans over three shows in the UK). Last summer in europe, ZZ Top were meant to play all through Europe, England, Sweden, Germany, France etc. , but their album "Afterburner" was late and they only played in England and southern Ireland. Originally, we were going to play with them. We thought the record would be finished and it would be good fun for us and it would show everybody that Rick Allen was back."

"With hindsight, we were lucky that ZZ didn't play, 'cause the record has taken another year and Rick's original homemade kit was not up to standard."

"Earlier this year, we got a phone call from the leading Electronic drum company in the world (which happens to be British, by the way), Simmons Electronics and they said:

"Well chaps, we can do anything Rick wants - no problem." And you know what Lep fans? They were 100% correct. By May, they had designed and buit a special kit with special electronic foot pedals (made by an American company called Shark) which would allow Richard to play a full show."

"Actually, some of you, fans of new wave type songs would have seen these Simmons drums. They are those funny five sided ones. A lot of groups mix them in with their regular acoustic drums. Needless to say, Rick can't use acoustic drums anymore, but he can play as well as before except you hear a lot of sounds - some you would expect and others pretty different."

"Out of sheer boredom, Rick started to rehearse in our house in Ireland, first on his own and then with Phil or Steve playing along (or using tapes of High and Dry and Pyromania). His biggest problem was getting his left leg to do what his left hand had done. Richard Allen has absolutely amazing skill and coordination, cause he nailed it!!!"

"Back to the story. So, these summer gigs pop up again. This time it's the Scorpions who want to play outdoors as well as Ozzy Osbourne. Here it gets a little complicated. Ozzy has decided to headline this English show at Castle Donington: "The Monsters of Rock ": the Scorpions want to headline the same show in Sweden, Germany (two shows there), Spain, Italy, and Hungary."

"It takes a month or two to sort out the Scorpions will go under Ozzy in the UK and Ozzy will support the Scorpions in Sweden and Germany. Italy has bit the dust and only a small support act is needed for Spain and Hungary."

"So we propose that Def leppard will be 3rd from top on each of the four shows (England, Sweden, and the two shows in Germany). So only the Scorps and Ozzy are on after us. Everybody is happy until a certain amount of self-doubt creeps into the minds of the Leppards."

"As it happens, it was only the English show they were worried about and only because it was the FIRST one. In the longest band meeting we've ever had (two hours), with much gnashing of teeth and the promise of sufficient Irish warm up shows, opposition to the proposed tour collapsed. We hurriedly signed contracts so that we would not back out and proceeded to set up the tour."

"Castle Donington was the one the band were unsure about; but they rose to the occasion."

"Rick was brilliant (although, he was concentrating so - hard he didn't crack a smile during the entire 1 hour set - and we spent all show making faces at him, to get him to show some facial expression.)"

"The funniest thing about the show was the number of people who went looking for Jeff and couldn't find him. We had let out a press story that said we would playing with two drummers etc. and hadn't had time to issue a new one, so people were looking high and low. It took our European booking agent, Rod MacSween and several other executives nearly half the show to figure out that Jeff had gone."

"After the gig, Joe went to Holland to continue recording the vocals. Oh yes, the set we played at these four shows was the same as the Irish one with "Run Riot", Heartbreak" and "Switch" missing. When you are playing in the middle of six acts, time is an important matter, so we cut our set down to 1 hour (or so, we're not that precise...)."

By Rock Brigade Magazine 1986.